To Glimpse Your Smile
by The Corrupted Typer
Summary: To everyone else she was cold and withdrawn. Her frown had been her only defining feature for so long, it appeared her lips had forgotten how to curve. But she allowed him, just once, to glimpse her smile; and that single moment would forever change his world. Annie/Eren. Series of One - Shots.
1. Chapter 1 - There Was One, Once

Chapter 1: There Was One, Once

_A/N: This one shot was actually inspired by a picture I saw on Deviantart a while back. If I ever find the link, I'll be sure to put it up here._

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><p>A large smile grew across Hanji's features.<p>

"Oh, look at all the happy couples!" she squealed, fists shaking. "Humanity will repopulate in no time with this amount of hormones swirling around the room!"

Her smile widened, and a nearby Eren tensed. Levi let out a deep breath of air and set his cup on the table. "Quit rejoicing, Hanji, there is no point," he told her.

She swiveled around on the bench and peered at him, head tilted slightly to the side.

"What is a better reason to celebrate than the growth of humanity?" she asked.

Her nails started to tap together in in her lap as she peered at him, twitching slightly in her seat. To any stranger these movements would be frightening, but for him they only served to annoy.

His eyes narrowed. "Many of them will be dead before any 'repopulating,' can take place."

The words were nearly spat. He picked up his tea, and took another sip.

Eren, who had heard everything from his seat, shifted and took a gulp of his own drink. Levi' allowed himself a look over of the room. Hanji was truthful; from what he could see there were many people mingling together, holding hands, hugging, sitting closer on the bench than you would with a friend or relative. Perhaps some of them were an exception, but he could assume that many of them were indeed 'couples.'

Suddenly his tea went cold, and he slowly set the cup down on the table.

"What about you, Eren?"

Hanji turned to him and leaned across the table. Eren looked up and blinked, glass frozen in hand. Hanji stared back at him,

"Has anyone ever made your hormones rage?"

Eren stiffened in his seat, going pale. Levi sighed.

"Hanji," He called.

She let a small gasp and turned towards him, eyes wide. His own narrowed at her.

"Stop pestering everyone with such questions," he told her. "It is _very_ irritating."

She blinked, but before she could react, Eren shuffled in his seat and cleared his voice, catching their attention. Hanji darted around. Levi turned as well, brows slightly raised.

Eren propped his head in his hand and looked out across the sea of people in the room. He took in a slow deep breath, and seemed to relax.

"Well, there was this one person who made feel… different."

_-..-_

"But hey, am I a good kicker or what?"

He chuckled.

"I picked it up from watching you at it, but it worked out great, I'll say," he told her.

The girl swiveled around to look at him, meeting him directly in the eye. Her brows rose ever so slightly,but the rest of her features remained cold and unreadable. His smile fell at the look.

She let a short, quick snort. "That was _hopeless." _She told him. "A complete train - wreck."

His mouth gaped. She turned away from him, and took a step forward in the other direction, towards the exit.

"Wh- " he started, taking a step towards her, He stopped, staring at her back. "Where did I get it wrong?"

She froze, and slowly turned back around. She was slow in the movement, and such and action made the anticipation building inside him grow. She looked at him for a long moment, and for a brief second he saw a flicker of surprise behind her blue eyes.

For the first, and only time; he saw a genuine, tiny smile grace her features. He sucked in a breath. Her mouth parted, and a flash of white shown. He froze, enraptured by the tiny glint of her white teeth, shimmering in the sun. Then her lips closed, and her smile diminished,; but it still remained, and he could not look away from such a sight. Annie never smiled, but she had for him, just that once.

"If you like that technique so much," the words were slow and stretched out to him, being distracted by the curve of her lips. "Maybe I can teach it to you,"

She swiveled around, and strode away.

_-..-_

But no matter how many times he remembered her smile, how many times he pictured that bright glimmer that ran along her teeth, it always came back to the other Annie, and he would forever envision her laughing and twitching at the top of those stairs instead of the beautiful smile she gave him that day. In place of Annie, he would always see the titan.

'_It wasn't funny, Annie,' _

But her laughter rang through his head, clear as if she were right in front of him, performing the act herself. He grimaced. That, too, was burned into his memory.

'_So why were you laughing?'_

He looked up, and saw someone's skeletal white knuckles wrapped around his cup. His eyes widened, and he slowly relaxed, letting go of the glass. It rocked back and forth on the table.

He exhaled, and glanced to Hanji. "But… things didn't turn out the way they should have," he told her. "I was always so focused on killing the titans, I never paid attention to my own feelings.

He shrugged casually, and glanced down at the table, suddenly solemn.

His lips pursed. "I guess it's too late now."


	2. Chapter 2 - Endless Masquerading Part 1

Chapter 2: Endless Masquerading Part 1

_A/N: Long time no update._

_Anyway, I think I should take the time to explain something I forget to add in to the previous chapter. _

_This is a series of one-shots revolving around Annie and Eren - both together and alone, though at this point I can say most of them will involve them being together. That being said, updates will be very sporadic, and I can't tell you when the next one will be. It could be anywhere from a day to months. _

_**This particular ****one-shot** is part one of two of an AU._

_And huge thanks to all who reviewed! They are incredibly helpful, and very much so appreciated._

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><p>"Come on, Eren, let's get out of here."<p>

Eren hissed, and pulled away from the door. He'd been so close to hearing what they were saying, but their words were drowned out by Reiner's loud drawl.

"Damn it, Reiner!" He yelled. "I was trying to hear them speak!" he hissed through clenched teeth.

His hands balled at his sides. He hated when he was paired with Reiner on night time clean up duty. Despite his overall good characteristics and generally enjoyable company, Reiner only wanted to get the job done and go, not allowing Eren anytime to listen to what the actors were saying.

Reiner stopped and looked back at him. A wide grin stretched across his face.

"What, were you trying to listen to them again?" he asked, and chuckled. "Whoops, my bad."

Eren's brows knitted together. '_I was so close,' _

"If you had waited _one more second_ I would have heard what they were saying!" He hissed.

His nails dug into the palms of his hands, but it was such a familiar feeling he didn't even notice it. Reiner continued to smile, but he must have seen his clenched fists, because the smile abruptly disappeared, and suddenly Eren was staring at a much more serious looking Reiner.

Reiner's brows furrowed.

"If it really means that much to you, I know someone you can eavesdrop on," he told him.

Eren blinked. His eyes slowly narrowed.

"What do you mean? There are other actors still here?" he demanded.

Reiner grinned. "Not actors, but she works with the company. She does all of the music stuff."

He looked back and forth, as if peering down the halls to make sure no one was there, before turning back around and motioning for him to follow. Eren's brows furrowed, but he followed as Reiner disappeared around a corner. Whatever Reiner had in mind was better than anything else he could do.

"Did you say she works with music?" he asked.

They rounded a corner and came to a hallway almost identical to the one they'd passed through, only this one was pitch black. Reiner frowned and walked over to the wall, feeling it with his hand. After a moment Eren heard a click, and the hall was illuminated.

Reiner nodded, satisfied with the lighting, and waved Eren forward.

"Yeah, the piano." Reiner told him, before continuing down the hall.

He strode forward. His head swiveled from side to side as they walked. In the dark the hall had looked the same as all the others, but in the light he saw that it lacked the numerous doors the other halls had. Each hall was supposed to be lined with doors for all the actors there, but he'd only seen one, at the very beginning of the hall.

His brows furrowed. "How do you know about this place?" he asked, and his frown deepened. "Is this even on the map of the building?"

"It's somewhere on there," he said without looking at him. "Her room's at the end of the hall. It should be coming up soon,"

Eren's brows furrowed further. He hadn't stepped foot down this hall, he hadn't even passed it. It was practically right next to their cleaning route, yet he didn't know of its existence until now. He tensed. He wasn't entirely sure why, but the realization made him very uncomfortable.

Reiner slowed for a brief moment. "Hey, look! There's her door, right at the end, like I said,"

Eren squinted. '_How can he see through this?' _Even with the lights on it was nearly pitch black, and Eren had to squint just to see where he was putting his feet.

A tear in the carpet caught his foot and pulled him forward. He tripped, and stumbled towards the floor.

"Aghh!" He shook the rug from his foot and managed to regain his balance before face planting the carpet, but by the time he'd done so Reiner had already whirled around and was offering a helping hand.

By then, of course, he didn't need it, and he shook his head at Reiner's outstretched hand.

"You must have night vision or something to see through this stuff," Eren told him as they started walking forward again.

He heard Reiner chuckle. "Nah, I just know the way." He stopped abruptly, and Eren's eyebrows shot up. Reiner reached forward and began fumbling with something - to Eren's surprise, it was a door knob.

"Oh, and you might want to keep it down once we're in there. She can get real bitchy when you interrupt her music." Reiner smirked, and Eren blinked.

In an instant the door was open, and in the next instant they were in a room completely foreign to Eren. He craned his neck towards the ceiling.

"Woah," he exclaimed. "This room is huge! Who would need so much space?"

A high, thin note resonated through the air, followed by a stream of keys that rushed through the room. Eren's head arched forward and he looked to Reiner, who was motioning for him to come forward with a finger to his lips.

He closed his mouth and stepped forward, doing his best to stay quiet. He could hear his footsteps even while pressing them as lightly to the ground as possible, and he assumed who ever was playing would have been able to as well, if it weren't for the loud, reverberating piano that covered his tracks. He looked around.

A long curtain blocked his view of the player. The dark black drapes - nearly as dark as the hallway outside, Eren noted with a twinge of irony - extended from ceiling to floor, with no cracks in between. Even so, a strand of light was visible farther along the drapes, and Reiner seemed to be heading that way.

Reiner slowed to a stop at the end of the room, and by then Eren was anxious to see just who this person was. '_There not an actor, but they've probably got some stage advice that could help!' _he told himself. '_Besides, Reiner said they worked with the company, so they've got to have met tons of actors!'_

Reiner peeled the curtain away from the wall and ushered Eren forward, urging him towards the light filled room he'd yet to see.

The music was in the back of his mind, blinded by his goal of seeing this amazing musician. At the end of a massive black piano was a tiny head of light blonde hair half hidden behind the instrument. Her head arched up, and he was amazed at the clarity of her eyes. He sucked in a breath, amazed. Suddenly, he realized, he could see their eyes all too well, and the next moment the music he'd barely noticed faded into a very prominent nothingness.

Their light blue eyes sharpened, and a small rigid form stood from the piano, staring right into the darkness he wished he'd stayed closer to.

She spoke with a calm chill that spooked him.

"I know you're there."


End file.
